Caffe Calabria Expanding Offerings

All sorts of interesting and potentially wonderous things are happening at this North Park coffee roaster/coffee bar/cafe. In fact, the next "/" will be retailer as Arne is getting the back of the building ready to open a retail shop. Already, he's been selling bags of beans and tea, as well as coffee-making equipment, but he's also got some marvelous chocolates for sale, including Eclipse Chocolat bars and some more exotic varieties from Amedei in Tuscany and Claudio Corallo in Africa.

Arne is particularly excited about the Claudio Corallo chocolates because they come from a sustainable plantation called Terreiro Velho, in São Tome e Príncipe, a small African island nation on the West coast of the continent. Corallo has a very interesting story, which you can read about here.

I tried the "Soft" chocolate, tablets of 73.5 percent cocoa. It's slightly sweet, nutty and crunchy (thanks to the cocoa nibs), made only with cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter.



Amedei is based in Pisa and owned by brother and sister Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri. The beans come from growing regions that include Grenada, Jamaica, Madagascar, Trinidad, Ecuador and Venezuela. The beans are processed by the Tessieris in Italy and the recipes are created by Cecilia, a Maitre Chocolatier. Arne had me try the Toscano Brown, a luscious milk chocolate bar that is nevertheless restrained in sweetness. According to Arne, Caffe Calabria is the only shop south of Beverly Hills selling Amedei chocolates and only one of seven in all of California.


I also got a chance to taste a delicious cup of coffee from Caffe Calabria's new Clover machine, a large piece of technology that drop kicks the French press concept into the 21st century by allowing the barista to control the temperature and pressure of a single cup even as the machine compresses the ground coffee into a tight puck to extract the flavor.

Arne tells me that they're still refining their Clover coffee, working on getting that combination of temperature and pressure just right before they start serving to customers. So, stay tuned.

And, for those of you, who, like me, love the fresh roasts they sell but don't live close enough to stop by weekly (or whenever) for a pound bag, Caffe Calabria is going to start a subscription service in the near future. Sign up and you can get your coffee delivered at an interval that works for you so you don't have to put extra bags in the freezer. I've been assured that those of us who have come into the store and signed up will soon be getting an email blast with all the details.

Caffe Calabria is located at 3933 30th St. just north of University Ave. in North Park.


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Dallmann Confections: Candyland in El Cajon

Trying to find Dallmann Confections is a little tricky. Just off the 8 freeway in El Cajon, the little storefront doesn’t yet have any signage to speak of—owner Isabella Valencia’s only been there for two weeks—and the place is set back from the street. But, the location is really more headquarters than retail operation. Valencia has plans to eventually hold chocolate and wine tastings as well as chocolate-making classes here, but unlike other local chocolatiers, she has no plans for opening a café or shop on site.

“This just isn’t the right location for a café,” she acknowledges. “I’d rather wait until I can do it in La Jolla.”

But, having bounced around for the last couple of years in different locations, including downtown San Diego, her new East County workspace is a welcome relief. The garish yellow and turquoise paint on the walls and ceiling will soon be a thing of the past once Valencia redecorates, but in the meantime she’s got a large open kitchen—perfect for hands-on classes and demonstrations—as well as plenty of room for tasting guests to circulate.

You would think the 27-year-old Valencia came to making chocolate as an inevitability. Back in the ‘50s in her native Austria, her grandfather, Guenther Dallmann, ran a much loved pastry shop, which grew in renown and success when her mother and father expanded the business. Their Mozart Travel Cake—remember, this is Austria—is one of their biggest draws. It would have been only natural for Valencia to join the business, but instead it was her brother who went to work for their parents while she continued her education, earning a degree in hotel and restaurant management at The Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management in Klessheim, Austria.

Valencia first came to the U.S. on an internship at a resort in the Poconos Mountains back east. It wasn’t the most exciting place she could have landed but it was there that she met her husband, Alex. The couple returned to Austria for awhile but the Westgate Hotel’s general manager, George Hochfilzer, also Austrian, recruited them to work at the downtown San Diego hotel for 18 months.

“The idea was that we’d go back home to Austria after 18 months,” she says, “but with an American husband I was able to get a green card and I was promoted to manage the gourmet shop.”

Long story short—one day Valencia got a call at work from Mainly Mozart, asking if she knew where they could buy Mozart chocolates, a delicacy that, as it happened, her parents make. Shipping the chocolates from overseas became cumbersome so Valencia decided to quit her job to learn how to make them herself. That was “it” for her.

“It’s like the way nuns say they feel when they explain their calling,” she says. “I felt it was what I was meant to do.”

Three weeks back at home with her family gave her the fundamental skills she needed to get started. She returned to San Diego, told Mainly Mozart she was ready to provide them directly with what they needed—and they told her they weren’t interested anymore.

Fortunately, Valencia was inspired by her new-found passion and, like an Einstein she says, spent her time at home playing with chocolates and ingredients like teas and spices to develop a line of confections. She approached her former Westgate Hotel colleagues, and they became her first customers. Wasting no time getting more accounts, her business quickly grew. Valencia now sells her chocolates to wine bars like Wine Love, Wine Steals, The Cask Room and Eno Winebar; retail stores like Taste, Zanzibar, Orfila Vineyards, Java Jones and the Westgate Gourmet Shop; restaurants like Villa Portofino in Catalina and hotels such as Tower23, the U.S. Grant, W. Hotel Spa, the Westgate and The Handlery.

And now of all things, Valencia’s preparing for the Academy Awards. Dallmann Chocolates will be part of the celebrity swag giveaway extravaganza for three days leading up to the Oscar’s. “I got an email out of nowhere asking me to participate,” she says. “I’ll be with other vendors at the Beverly Hilton in a booth with a display. They tell me that 35 celebrities a day will come to the booth, eat my chocolates and have their photos taken with me.”

Her hope, of course, is that she’ll be able to generate a lot of publicity through the event and even garner some A-list customers.

In the meantime, Valencia is madly whipping up confections for her regular clientele as well as other special events. Stacked on shelves are bags of the Felchlin chocolates that are the foundation of her creations: dark 72 percent, a lighter 65 percent and 38 percent milk chocolate. The Swiss company makes single bean organic chocolate derived from Venezuela.

In the adjoining workroom, drawers are packed with all sorts of fascinating ingredients that she uses in her chocolates. Out came a small bag from Japan containing pearl dust, literally the wispy particles that result from hand grinding pearls. Valencia sprinkles it on her Prosceco and Pearls champagne truffles, a hit at weddings, she says. Then there’s a container of bee pollen and another of royal jelly for her Royal Jelly truffle. Royal jelly, which is secreted from the salivary glands of worker bees, provides nutrition to the larvae in the hive. Valencia uses it in the truffle’s ganache, and sprinkles bee pollen lightly on top. She also has a bag of fine grade macha, or green tea powder, and assorted spices and herbs. Fresh flowers, like orchids and roses, figure in her presentations and dried flower petals often top her candies.

Interestingly, she says she gets many of her ideas for her confections from body shop products, which often contain unusual combinations of ingredients. But, it still takes a lot of fine tuning to be able to turn a concept into a luxurious chocolate bonbon or truffle. One example is the key lime bonbon I tried that morning.

It is a beautiful treat—Valencia uses her thumb to paint the inside of the molds a vibrant yellow and green. The ganache is made with key lime and forest honey. The trick has been just how far to take the lime flavor. Too much and customers will wince at the taste of sour chocolate, so it has to be just enough to develop the flavor and no more. Valencia is just shy of reaching the finish line here, although the bonbon itself is rich and delicious.

On the other hand, the Rose bonbon was perfection and I’m not even a huge fan of rose-flavored food. It reminds me of my grandmother’s strong smelling soaps when I was a child. And, often candy makers are heavy handed with the rosewater. So, I was wary. But, it was a delight, especially the way it infused the caramel filling and contrasted with the bittersweet chocolate encasing it.

The Jasmine bonbon gently stoked my taste buds. The scent of the tea just swam up to my nose while its flavor lingered on the back of my tongue even after I swallowed the chocolate.

The other tea-flavored bonbon I sampled, Macha Passion, was equally well crafted. I love macha tea and I love passion fruit. Until recently, I grew a vine in my garden, always hoping it would bear the small fruit with its sweet-tart syrupy pulp. Valencia uses a passion fruit puree at the base of the bonbon, topped with a gorgeous ganache infused with macha, all wrapped in chocolate. My mouth felt like a happy playground as different flavors bumped up against one another.

The Giandja, a combination of hazelnut paste and Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur, was far more subtle and luxurious. It’s a smooth jazz kind of confection.

The palate is jolted awake, though, with the playful Fleur de Sel, which Valencia says is a customer favorite. The sea salt sits in the center of the top of the bonbon, so no matter where you bite, you get a sensation of buttery caramel and a little kick of salt, snuggled in bittersweet chocolate.

Finally, I got a chance to taste one of Valencia’s truffles, her basic chocolate truffle rolled in cocoa powder. It was dense and dark, definitely an adult confection.

Valencia also has a line of three chocolate bars of varying depths of chocolate. Her smart packaging includes suggestions on the back for wine pairings with the chocolates.

“I love to watch people take a bite of my chocolate and see the smiles on their faces,” says Valencia. “It makes me feel like a superstar on stage.”

Dallmann Confections is located at 780 N. 2^nd St. in El Cajon. You can learn where to find her products on her web site, www.dallmannconfections.com.

Have some thoughts about Dallmann Confections or other artisan chocolatiers in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Chi Chocolat: A Spot of Decadence in Little Italy

Jesse Brown is a character. He loves to talk about chocolate, about the way it can be crafted, about its health benefits and how Americans can learn something from Europeans both in how chocolate is made and consumed. In short, Jesse Brown loves to talk.

Fortunately for his customers, Jesse Brown is just as passionate when it comes to actually making his truffles and bonbons. In his small shop, Chi Chocolat, which includes a charming café set with mosaic tables, a place to play chess and a picture window onto the passing world of India St., Brown works his growing skills as an artisan chocolate maker. The open kitchen allows customers to watch the chocolate temper, watch him fill the plastic molds that form his bonbons and roll and dip his truffles. “People are paying a lot for hand-crafted chocolates and I think it helps for them to see the effort that goes into making them,” he says.

Brown and his wife, Tess, have been in chocolates for three years in conjunction with running their thriving catering business. It’s clear the self-taught chocolatier loves what he does and feels he has a higher calling to serve the community through his chocolates.

The bonbons and truffles, made with Callebaut chocolate, hold up to scrutiny. Like many other chocolatiers, Brown is taking his creations to a higher level with the use of a variety of spices and herbs, teas and liquors, salts and curries and fruits and nuts. Brown sees a similarity between wine and fine chocolate—both in their richness, delicacy and complexity and the necessary balance of texture, aroma and taste. He cleverly has organized his chocolates into themed “flights” that highlight various characteristics. These flights include:

Truffle: an assortment of hand rolled rustic truffles

Exotic Spice: Ganaches combined with spices like chile and pink peppercorns

Cosmopolitan: Ganaches such as crème brulee, burnt caramel, white chocolate, dark chocolate and lavender and caramel

Liquer: bonbons infused with an assortment of fine liquors

Tea: Ganaches infused with green tea, earl grey leaves, exotic chai spices, jasmine tea and ginger

Nuts & Flowers: Milk chocolate with roasted almond butter, dark chocolate with marzipan, almonds and almond paste, hazelnuts, pistachios and lavender

I tried a wonderful duo—a long, glossy Jaeden, a white chocolate ganache infused with green tea powder from Uji, Japan, and the Blue French, a lavender and caramel ganache encased in dark chocolate. The Jaeden had just the slightest hint of the green tea. It’s simple and satisfying. The Blue French was like a long drink of lavender bookended at bite and finish with a distinctive crunch of the dark chocolate shell. It was surprising and happily so.

I also enjoyed Brown’s traditional classic dark truffle. Made with 72 percent chocolate and finished with a roll in dark chocolate powder, it was truffle 101—earthy and rich with deeply dark, woody undertones.

In fact, it’s this darkness that Brown emphasizes is so good for us. Forget the sweet, sweet, sweetness of a Hershey’s Kiss. Dark chocolate with its more sophisticated and restrained flavors is, he says, actually good for you.

“We’re regressing from mass produced, highly sugared chocolate to what chocolate is today by understanding that higher percentage chocolates taste better and are better for you,” he says. “Dark chocolate contains high-density lipoproteins, which protect against heart disease.”

And, of course, chocolate is said to contain antioxidant properties and act as an appetite suppressant. These claims all are subject to continued studies, but isn’t it cool to think that eating good-quality chocolates could actually be healthy?

Medical claims aside, Brown’s confections are quite simply deliciously decadent. But, even if you’re not in the mood for them, Chi Chocolat is a wonderful place to stop by for a mocha and bagel or croissant. Brown makes a number of espresso drinks using Caffe Calabria’s roasted coffees and offers paninis and several pastries like cheesecake, chocolate-dipped biscotti and tiramisu.

“This is a place to meet, greet and talk,” says Brown. “We want to welcome people in to sit and enjoy themselves, have some chocolate and be a part of the community.”

Chi Chocolat is located at 2021 India St. at Grape St.

Have some thoughts about Chi Chocolat or other artisan chocolatiers in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Chuao Chocolatier: Bonbon Vivant in San Diego Via Venezuela

First things first—in case you were wondering, Chuao is pronounced “chew-Wow.” And, yes, it’s a fortunate play on words for this decadent house of chocolate, but it also happens to be the name of a small village in central Venezuela, famous for its cacao plantations.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, it’s all hearts and sweets at the various Chuao Chocolate Cafes. But, nothing like what you’d find at your momma’s chocolate shop. There’s chocolate with chevre, chocolate with Earl Grey tea, chocolate with cabernet caramel, with lemon tequila, with green tea and with Meyer lemon pulp. And, my favorite, the Spicy Maya—a dark chocolate, both in bar form and as hot chocolate, infused with pasilla chile and cayenne pepper.

Chuao Chocolatier, which is based in Carlsbad with several cafes in San Diego as well as Irvine and Miami, was started in 2002 by Venezuelan brothers Michael and Richard Antonorsi. The two had first come to San Diego in the ‘80s to attend UCSD. Michael studied biomedical engineering and Richard computer sciences. They returned to Venezuela and launched businesses in networking and telecommunications.

Michael, however, always wanted to cook, so at age 38, he took off to Paris with his wife and kids to follow his dream, enrolling first in the École Supéríeure de Cuísíne Francaíse Ferrandi and then the École Lenotre, where he was trained as a pastry and chocolaterie chef. “The French are the architects of food,” he says.

Because the brothers already owned property in San Diego and Richard was married to a San Diegan, they decided to return to the area to start a chocolate business, using Venezuelan chocolate, of course, with Michael as chef and Richard running the business. The business started with a small shop in Encinitas and has expanded to include several cafes; a thriving wholesale, corporate gift and online business; and even hands-on bonbon making classes at their Carlsbad headquarters.

“At the time, there was nothing here but See’s Candies and Godiva,” says Michael. “There were no traditions in chocolate here so we were free to think outside of the box and take advantage of the exposure here of so many cultures. Since I’m a chef and that’s my passion, I want to push the limit all the time, crossing over with ingredients.

“Our vision is to arouse the senses with unusual and unexpected chocolates that are delicious,” he explains. “I find chocolate incredibly satisfying. Women love it. Men who have developed their feminine side love it. It’s truly sensorial and connects deeply with people.”

My connection began at their cafe in University Towne Centre with the luxurious Spicy Maya hot chocolate. It’s deeply rich and thick. Sensuously chocolate, wrapped in a velvety heat sans the pain. It made a chilly day more than tolerable.

The café has a variety of drinks, including bittersweet Abuela hot chocolate, Caramelo, espresso drinks, tea, blended frappuccinos and chocolate milk. Chuao Chocolatier also has a pastry chef, who works with Michael to develop a number of exotic pastries. There’s a flourless wild truffle cake, flourless chocolate cake and the deeply dark Black Magic—coffee mousse over chocolate rum cake topped with a bittersweet chocolate glaze and dipped in caramelized cocoa nibs.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I wanted a heart, so I took home a “Love Letter”—a blackberry tea mousse on a ginger shortbread cookie, all topped with a dark chocolate glaze. Light and airy, the pastry is beautiful to look at and a wonderful counterpoint to rich meal.

Along with the café, is a shop filled with all things chocolate. Little packages of treats, large exotic bars, cacao powder, chocolate nuts, froufrou Valentine’s Day gifts and elegant wine-tasting boxes that pair chocolate with wine. The store sells small bags of "coco nibs" for snacking, as a topping on ice cream or other desserts or even as part of a marinade for steak.

And, they have a whole section dedicated to hot chocolate, with Bodum hot chocolate jugs, traditional wooden hot chocolate whisks called molinillos and, of course, packages of their various hot chocolate mixes, including a customer favorite, Winter hot chocolate, that blends bittersweet chocolate with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and pepper.

Finally, there’s the tremendous selection of truffles and bonbons on display that you can choose from to create a unique box. Some are caramel filled, others with rich ganache or buttery cream, with nuts and fruits and intriguing spices.

The flavors that Michael Antonorsi has played with come off beautifully. The Cacique dark chocolate bonbon, filled with California raisin and rum dark chocolate ganache was a favorite. The unusual flavors melded naturally with the chocolate. I also enjoyed the Framboise, a layered hazelnut almond praline and raspberry “pate de fruit.”

In the fun and frivolous department is a terrific surprise—the Firecracker confection. Offer one to a friend and watch the reaction to the first bite. There’s quite literally an explosion in the mouth, thanks to the popping candy that envelops the mixture of caramel fudge, chipotle chile and salt.

“You have to stay in the world of chocolate,” says Michael. “I’ve done stuff with garlic and rosemary. It’s tasty but confusing. So what can we use that respects the chocolate but also respects the spectrum of people’s experience, that would make you want to repeat the experience? It’s a way of offering chocolate entertainment that creates a connection.”

Chuao Chocolatier has several locations:

The Lumberyard, 937 S. Coast Highway 101, Suite C-109 in Encinitas

Del Mar Highlands Shopping Center, 3485 Del Mar Heights Rd, Suite A-1 in Del Mar

Forum at Carlsbad, 1935 Calle Barcelona in Carlsbad

Spectrum Shopping Center, 95 Fortune Drive, Suite 603 in Irvine

University Towne Centre, 4465 La Jolla Village Dr. H-09 in San Diego

70 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables - Miami, FL

Coupa Café, 538 Ramona Street in Palo Alto

Coupa Café, 419 N Canon Drive in Beverly Hills

Have some thoughts about Chuao Chocolatier or other artisan chocolatiers in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Eclipse Chocolat: Conceptual, Edible Art in University Heights

Chocolatier Will Gustwiller is an artist. A sculptor, in fact, who came to San Diego from Ohio to earn his MFA at San Diego State. It was while in grad school that he started fiddling around with chocolate—not to create mimetic sculptures, but, true to his approach as a conceptual artist, to focus less on the eye and instead create sensations and experiences for the mouth and mind.

So, what does a trained conceptual sculptor do with a graduate degree in Fine Arts? Well, this one started making artisanal chocolates. And, so began Eclipse Chocolat four years ago.

I spent Friday morning with Gustwiller at his three-month-old storefront, Eclipse Chocolat Café, in University Heights. His two barristas hadn’t yet arrived and his new culinary intern isn’t due to start until next week. Alone in his small kitchen, loaded with trays of bewitching truffles waiting to be dipped, he took advantage of the quiet to work on a new truffle recipe.

Throughout my visit, Gustwiller was valiantly trying to get the recipe—a white chocolate ganache flavored with Jasmine green tea and Cointreau—to come together. Like all of his recipes, the idea for this truffle had been percolating in his head for awhile until he mentally figured out the flavor profile. Then, he got out the materials and started the process of melting the chocolate and blending the ingredients, with the goal of reaching the right temperature and eventually the right consistency, and, of course, a stunning taste.

But, while I was there, it was a struggle. Holding the large metal bowl with his left arm while his left hand held the candy thermometer in place, he patiently stirred the mixture with a large whisk in his right hand. There were pockets of fat that wouldn’t dissipate. The temperature was too high. He’d put it in the oven briefly to bring it down and pull it out to work it some more. Then add some Cointreau. Then melt a lower-fat white chocolate on the burner in front of him and add that. And, while all this was happening, the phone would ring and he’d have to drop everything, hurriedly wash his hands and try to get to the phone. At one point, a UPS guy came by with a delivery. Then some people wandered in looking for doughnuts. But, despite the interruptions, he kept his cool, determined to get it right. By the end of my visit, I was feeling just as invested in the challenge.

Gustwiller acknowledges that his training in chocolates isn’t formal. It’s all based on reading, research and experimentation. “But, that’s the fun of it,” he says. “It’s part of the reason for my success. But it’s also part of my frustration.”

He willingness to experiment, however, has led to an amazing array of astounding tasting chocolates, not to mention the pastries he also makes for the café. I came in that morning with a craving for something I saw on his blog earlier in the week, a chocolate chip-chocolate brioche made from a 72 percent dark chocolate and butter-fortified yeast dough he starts the night before baking.

The brioche is lovely. Thick and rich, intensely chocolate. I heated one up later and enjoyed it with a little sweet butter. It would probably also be stunning with an apricot or strawberry jam. Maybe even a tart marmalade. In any case, it’s perfect on its own with coffee.

I also tried one of his deep, dark macadamia ginger brownies (bottom right of the three, above). (Gustwiller also makes a masala chai brownie, marshmallow almond brownie and dark muscavado brownie.) The dense brownie flavor is superb, and beautifully complemented by the addition of the candied ginger and occasional crunch of toasted macadamia nuts.

The chocolate bars had me intrigued. These sleekly wrapped chocolates (all of the packaging was designed by Gustwiller) have some unusual names and I was eager to learn if the combinations worked. The Mango Masala has been particularly controversial, Gustwiller says. I don’t know why. The bar is milk chocolate infused with masala curry and studded with pieces of candied mango. I took this with me to the San Diego Union-Tribune to share with my on-air colleagues and guests on The Gourmet Club radio show. No one who tasted it understood the controversy; this is a decadent explosion of flavors—a quiet burst of mellow Indian spices, some sweet tanginess from the mango and the oh so smooth comfort of milk chocolate. It worked for all of us.

I also brought home the Gingerbread Crumb bar and the Kyoto Green Tea bar. The Gingerbread Crumb bar is delightful. Cinnamon—always a good marriage partner with chocolate—gives the bar a nice flavor lift, and the muscavado sugar and gingerbread crumbs add sweetness, a little spice and a nice slightly crunchy texture. There’s no mistaking the flavors of the Kyoto Green Tea bar. Lift it out of the wrapper and the white chocolate takes a bow to the scent and color of the matcha green tea that infuses it. A little ginger and some toasted rice round out the experience, adding a little crunch as you bit down. It’s definitely a little odd, but very compelling. I’d eagerly buy it again.

When I learned that Gustwiller makes his own marshmallows and created what he calls his Marshmallow Almond Rococo, I had to try it. This confection is a stunner, what with his house-made marshmallows, big chunks of Marcona almonds, cocoa nibs and maldon sea salt. This version of Rocky Road far exceeds the ice cream.

But, let’s get down to the real heart of the operation, the truffles. By my count, Gustwiller has developed eight dark chocolate truffle varieties, two milk chocolate and two (maybe three?) white chocolate. The infusion combinations are head spinning: Lavender Poppy, Balsamic Pink Peppercorn, Ginger Green Tea, Black Sesame Anise. You get the idea. Do they work? Oh, yes.

The house lavender gray sea salt works the palate nicely. The scent of the salt as you take a bite titilates the tongue, your taste buds melt over the rich chocolate, then there’s the lavender finish, which lingers after the last bite.

The Balsamic Pink Peppercorn truffle is an altogether different experience. There’s only the slightest hint of the vinegar tucked away in the dark chocolate. Aim right and what follows is the crunch of the peppercorn, offsetting the sweetness of the chocolate. Very nice.

I was a little apprehensive about the Ginger Green Tea with the dark chocolate. I needn’t have been. Gustwiller doesn’t sling these flavors at you; they’re modest additions that tease the taste buds. Here, we get the hints of ginger and of green tea but they serve to boost the chocolate.

Finally, I tried the Lemon Zinger, a white chocolate truffle infused with lemon peel and ginger and topped with candied ginger. This is artistry. If you don’t like the waxiness of white chocolate you’ve had in the past, let it go and try this. It’s rich and smooth and creamy. The lemon is a perfect foil for the chocolate and the ginger prevents the flavors from veering off into something too sweet. It’s a brilliant partnering of flavors and texture.

Gustwiller’s chocolates can be bought at his shop, at Taste, Venissimo, Jonathan’s and Cream coffee bar and wine shop on Park Blvd. in Hillcrest. Hotels like the W and the Lodge at Torrey Pines offer them as amenities to their guests. You can also purchase them online. Next year, Gustwiller plans to have a booth at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, so who knows where else you’ll be able to find his sweets in the future. Not bad for a guy who had to spend his first two years in business also working part-time at Williams-Sonoma in Fashion Valley to support himself and his “hobby.” The gig paid off both in terms of giving him time to make the business work and in teaching him all about merchandising.

If you want to plan something special for Valentine’s Day, Gustwiller’s making dinner and it’s nearly sold out. Check out his blog for details. And, if you do nothing else, head over there for a nice cup of Caffé Calabria coffee or tea and some sweets. There are about half a dozen tables at this hip little shop, free Wi-Fi and simply a cool environment perfect for hanging out with friends or solitary winding down.

Oh, are you curious about how Gustwiller’s new recipe turned out? I got an email from him the following day. “It turned out great! Ironically, right about the time I had decided to give up. Chocolate-making can have a steep learning curve.”

The final flavor, he says, is Jasmine Green Tea. It will be made seasonally and debut this year for Valentine’s Day.

Eclipse Chocolat is located at 2121 El Cajon Blvd. in University Heights.

Have some thoughts about Eclipse Chocolat or other artisan chocolatiers in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Continent European Deli: Gastronomic Glasnost in La Jolla

Sometimes, usually when a holiday comes, I get so nostalgic for the large family gatherings of my childhood I feel I can almost will myself back in time. It’s a visceral longing for big boisterous gatherings around food so plentiful it could practically collapse a table. And, not just any food, but traditional Eastern European dishes.

I was a lucky kid growing up with two sets of grandparents close by. My grandmothers were excellent home cooks and my grandfathers loved to eat. Actually, we all did and we ate very well. Big bowls of steaming chicken soup with won-ton-like kreplach or golf-ball sized matzoh balls; platters of stuffed cabbage, sweet and juicy with a ground beef and prunes; crispy roasted chicken; tender brisket; kasha varnishkes (bow tie pasta); chopped liver or pickled herring on slices of mini rye or pumpernickel bread; utterly sinful sweet noodle kugel (pudding) made with cream cheese and sour cream. The list goes on and on. The recipes were passed down, but it’s rare that my mother, sister or I make any of them today You need to have a large clan to feed to justify that and they just aren’t around anymore.

Walking into the Continent European Deli brought a lot of those remembrances of things past back in a rush. Behind the counter is an assortment of foods I don’t often encounter anymore: smoked fish, a line up of gorgeous sausages, stuffed cabbages, sour pickled tomatoes, a variety of salads, dark rye breads, sweet and savory piroghkis, even homemade gefilte fish. Plus, shelves filled with products that anyone from Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary, you name it in Eastern Europe, would find familiar and comforting.

Russian chocolates, cookies and candies in festive packaging filled one wall.

On the opposite wall were items ranging from deep red sour cherry preserves, perfect for topping French vanilla ice cream, to various vegetable spreads, sauces, Russian teas and canned fish.

Even cans of German cod liver that sent shivers down my spine, but which is apparently eaten as a spread on bread.

All this is the doing of owners Irina Kanevsky and Edward Serper. They opened their first shop in 1995 on University Ave. near San Diego State University. The following year, they opened a second one in La Jolla in a strip mall off Regents Rd., just north of La Jolla Village Dr. This one, larger and with a kitchen in the back, offers homemade prepared foods and pastries. That’s where I was on Friday afternoon with Irina as my culinary tour guide.

Irina, who is from an industrial town in Ukraine, came to the U.S. shortly after the Soviet Union fell. She recognizes that many of her customers are émigrés who long for the comfort of food from home, but also encourages people who may not be familiar with the cuisine to come in and try it. “I like when people are open to tasting something new,” she says.

Irina prepared a couple plates for me filled with little tastes of different salads and foodstuff. First I tried a slice of suluguni, or village cheese, a whole milk cheese (above left). It reminded me of mozzarella but saltier. Alongside the suluguni were thin slices of sausage (above right). On the top was a Moscow Servelat, a tasty mildly-seasoned, semi-smoked pork sausage. A servelat is a German or Swiss sausage, originally made with pork and brain (brain is no longer used). In the middle was a New Moscow cured salami, also pork, but with a slightly smoky flavor. Below that was something I knew well but hadn’t tasted in years, a Jewish-style beef salami, perfectly dried and wonderfully chewy. The Continent European Deli has 90 varieties of sausages at any given time.

I also sampled a little tongue sausage, ideal for a sandwich on corn rye with deli mustard, and a handsome Canadian sausage. Officially called Old Forest Salami, it’s commonly called “flower salami” because of its shape.

Continent European Deli’s salads are a delight and perfect if you’re entertaining and want prepared appetizers. I was shocked that I enjoyed the beet salad (I’ve never managed to like beets) but it was a perfect blend of beets, walnuts, prunes, garlic and mayonnaise. I also got a kick out of the beet vinaigrette salad made with beets, potatoes, pickles, carrots and sauerkraut. This unusual combination of ingredients produces what Irina says is one of her most popular dishes. It’s simultaneously sweet, salty, crunchy and chewy. Taste buds work overtime to take it all in at once and its worth it. Equally delicious are the eggplant salads. One is like an eggplant caviar; in this salad the eggplant is baked and the result is a creamy concoction perfect for spreading on crackers. The other eggplant salad is made up of pieces of sautéed eggplant that can stand on its own with a fork.

A Russian potato salad with chicken, called Olyvie, was next. Very nice flavors and also very popular in the store. The Israeli salad—eggplant, garlic and mayonnaise—is another winner. The flavors come together to create a smooth, mild taste. The mushroom salad, however, packs a garlicky punch. If you love garlic, you’ll love this. I found the beef salad—marinated, shredded and blended with garlic and other spices—unusual and delicious, maybe something I’d use in a sandwich with lettuce and thin sliced red onion. Finally came the crab salad, similar to the Olyvie but with crab instead of chicken. It was good, but I preferred the Olyvie.

Irina also heated up an oblong piroghki topped with sesame and poppy seeds and stuffed with a magnificent combination of chicken, prunes and mushrooms. These little appetizers are made with an easy to work sour cream-based dough, filled with either savory or sweet ingredients and then baked to crispy, golden flakiness.

There’s no one shape—the piroghkis at Continent European Deli come in small squares, triangles and rectangles—and here they are filled with potato (like a knish filling, but lighter), cabbage (with its grated carrots, it’s a little sweet but oddly reminiscent of sauerkraut), egg and onion or even apple (kind of like a turnover in this case, but the filling is made of just slightly crunchy slivered apples—not lumpy chunks—happily not overly sweet).

While sitting and chatting at a table with Irina, I noticed a rack next to me filled with bags with confusing contents. Since the print was in Cyrillic, I couldn’t make out what they were. Sunflower seeds, she said, laughing. Next to them were bags of buckwheat from different countries, used to make kasha, a common sidedish literally meaning “porridge.”

Looking around, I found a number of other unfamiliar products. I could happily eat any kind of smoked fish, even smoked eel (something I first discovered decades ago in Amsterdam). The deli has a wide selection, including mackerel, salmon and sturgeon. But what were those little fish in the container? Dry moiva, I was told. These are apparently a great accompaniment to beer.

And, those browned, sausage-like items on the red platter? Homemade gefilte fish. Hmmm. I’ll save that for my next trip, but I did buy one of the cheese and raisin pancakes on the platter next to the gefilte fish. Tasting it at home, I found it to be in the same family as a cheese blintz (like a crepe) and imagined combining the ricotta cheese filling of a blintz with the blintz batter to get a pancake like this.

I’m a sucker for fun packaging. I have no idea what baby bologna tastes like, but the cherubs won me over. I’ll try it soon.

Below the baby bologna and the rows of cheese above were stacks of bread.

Since I adore a good, dense black bread I selected a loaf of organic Latvian rye. Slice this very thin and toast it to get the most of its dark, nutty flavor. It’s great with a little butter and honey or sliced cheese.

So, what’s for desert? Continent European Deli has freshly made baklava and a variety of cakes and other pastries. On the candy wall, my eye caught sight of packages of chocolate-covered something, which I discovered were chocolate-covered marshmallows. I had to try one, although Irina advised me that it would be different from what I expected. Sure enough, this was not like eating the top of a Mallomar. The ingredients list “fruit sauce” along with egg whites and agar-agar chocolate. The fruit flavor is nonspecific but it’s there and very enjoyable.

I also took home what I thought was a bar of chocolate. The elegant packaging, showing two ballet dancers in front of the Bolshoi Theater, actually contains slim, individually wrapped pieces of semi-sweet chocolate with crushed hazelnuts and French brandy. These will be parceled out slowly over the weeks.

You could get lost in all the different products sold here and if you’re not from Eastern Europe, the offerings can be confusing. Don’t be put off. I found the women behind the counter to be very helpful, so ask questions and ask for tastes. The La Jolla deli has seating inside and out, so you can also sit down and enjoy a meal.

Continent European Deli is located at 4150 Regents Park Row in La Jolla and 5961 University Ave.

Have some thoughts about Continent European Deli or other ethnic markets in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below: